Despite flooding along the Salmon River in Custer County, the breeding seasongoes on in the Challis area. The Canada Geese have goslings growing quickly beyond the cutefledgling stage. In the past couple of weeks, there have been Hooded and CommonMerganser chicks, as well as Mallard young. This week, we pulledoff the road at McNabbs Point to allow a speedy tailgater to pass and there wasa Killdeer with four tiny fledglings right at the edge of the rocks. NoisySpotted Sandpipers can be heard and seen everywhere along the river and creeks.Colorful Wilson’s Phalaropes are frequent sights.
The highlight this week was spotting a Sandhill Cranechick. Seeing cranes on their breeding grounds is a thrill after years of onlyseeing them in duller plumage on their winter grounds in Arizona and NewMexico. Seeing a rusty little chick in a green field dotted with colorful pink Dark-throatedShooting Star flowers was memorable.
Passerines are also busy getting busy. Robins and starlingsare making a dent in the local earthworm population trying to keep their hungrynestlings fed. It was quite satisfying to see a pair of Bullock’s Orioles repelthe attempts of a female Brown-headed Cowbird to sneak into a hanging nest.
We’re seeing more Eastern Kingbirds than Western Kingbirdsaround Challis, which strikes me as funny due to their names. The empids aresinging, making it a bit easier to figure them out. Western Wood-pewees areeither following me around or are very common as they are the first bird I hearwhen at each birding stop.
Singing males of multiple species create a wonderfulsoundscape. Warbling Vireos are singing up a storm, while the bright colors of singing Yellow Warblers, Western Tanagers, and Lazuli Buntings paint a lovely picture. Cedar Waxwings showed up this week, seeminglyeverywhere at once, making the trees look as if someone filled them withornaments.
The swallows are busy, too. The large Bank Swallow colony inChallis is an amazing sight as birds pour out of the nest holes all at once likean avian waterfall. Violet-green Swallows are circling around almost everycliff face while Cliff Swallows are busy with their mud nests under thebridges. The Tree Swallows chatter near their nests while keeping a watchfuleye out for bothersome starlings. Birding around ponds is a great way to spend sometime late in the day, watching up to six species of swallows tank up for thenight.
There are, of course, many other species around that I haven’tmentioned, such as whinnying Soras, drumming woodpeckers, and singing sparrows,but this post has gotten long enough already. I hope everyone else is enjoyingthe birds in their area as much as I am in the Challis region.
Wendy McCrady
Challis, ID